Apparatus for transporting oil.



E. N. MILLS.

APPARATUS FOR TBANSPORTING OIL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1911.

1,008,980, Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

WITNESSES INVENTOR C% 5 1. @5411 @M 71.53. at

' To all whom it may concern:

- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

N. MILLS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO FRANKS. COOK, OF BBENTWOOD, CALIFORN Be it known that I, EDWARD N. MILLs, acitizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the countyof San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Transporting Oil, of which the followingis a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatusfor transporting oil in pipe lines, which shall be economical inoperation and in\which the oil when so transported will rapidly becomein condition for further use -or treatment.

The present method generally adopted for transporting oil is by means ofpipes, which, in the case of heavy oils, are rifled, water being mixedwith the oil to cause it toflow more readily in said ipes. Upon the oilarriving at its destinatlon, it has to be freed from the water bydistillation and other methods, this process being expensive as well asslow. a

The object of the present invention is to provide means to avoid thesedefects.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a side view of my improvedapparatus certain parts being shown in section; Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional view of a portion thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverseview on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinalsection of the end of the nozzle.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a tank containing the oil to betransported. From said tank the oil is impelled by a pump 2 through apipe 3 into a mixing chamber 4, a check valve 5 being interposed in saidpipe between the pump 2' and the chamber 4. I employ my improvedapparatus to mix the oil with infinitesimal particles or bubbles of air,so as tqconvert it into a froth or foam, and in this condition I conductit by a pi e 6 to the distant point. For the purpose of producing thisfoamlike condition in the oil I provide a nozzle 7 connected with acompressed air pump 8, said nozzle being contained in the mixing chamber4 between the pipes 3 and 6. Said nozzle is of an expanded form and theair issues therefrom through tapering holes 9v in a nozzle plate 10,there being a large numbeing very. holes is so and these holes ber ofsuch holes,

The number of such minute.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 29, 1911.

of the air on issuing Patented Nov. 14, 1911. Serial No. emcee.

large and they are so minute that they cannot be properly illustrated inthe drawing,

which is, in th1s respect, only diagrammatical. It 1s of the greatestimportance that the air issuing from said nozzle should bedivided intostreams as fine as possible in order that the bubbles into which the airis divided may be as small as possible.- The length of time during whichthe oil retains this'foamlike condition increases with the smallness ofthese particles of air. The mlxing chamber is formed on its inner wallwith helical ribs or vanes 11, which impart to the oil passingtherethrough a rotary motion. On account of this rotary motion, theoil-cuts or divides the streams of air into infinitesimal particles. Inthis condition the oil is very easily conveyed through the pipe. Byreason of the great reduction in pressure through said nozzles, and theconsequent expansion of the air, a refrigerating effect is produced,which is undesirable for the purpose for which my invention is designed.To counteract this refrigerating effect I provide around the mixingchamber a steam jacket 12, which is supplied by a pipe 13 with exhauststeam from the engine 14 which drives the pump.

In order to transport the oil a very long distance I provide stations15, as shown in Fig. 1. At each station the same apparatus is providedas at the first station, but since,

the oil arrives at each station in a foamlike condition, part only ofthe air having escaped, it can therefore be easily propelled to the nextstation. At each station after the first there is provided a receivingtank 16 at one side of which the mixing oil and air enters by the pipe6, escaping from the other side by the pipe 27. A transverse partition17 in each receiving tank separates the oil inlet from the oil outlet.The air escaping from the mixture rises to the top and escapes by a pipe18 into a supplementary air chamber 19 from which it can escape into theatmosphere, leaving, however, in saidsupplementary chamber any oil whichmay have been carried up with the air.

I am aware that it has been proposed to provide apparatus fortransporting water in a pipe, which apparatus contains means forinjecting jets of compressed air in the direction of the pipe. Suchapparatus. which may be successfully used for transporting water in apipe, is not practicable for transporting oil, for the reason that, as

brown soap suds. To bring it to this condition it is necessary that thebubbles of air introduced thereinto shall be extremely great in numberand small in size, and that the jets of air should be forced throughholes certainly not more than one-sixteenth of an. inch in diameter andpreferably much smaller than this, and also that when so forced, eachjet should not be allowed to issue in a continuous stream of air butshould be broken up into fine particles. I have found in experimentalapparatus of this character that crude oil thus reduced to a foamlikecondition remains apparently uncharged after traveling through a pipe 2%miles long, showing that its condition, necessary for rapidtransportation in the pipe, would remain unchanged for much longerdistances. It is also an important feature of my appartus that it mustcontain means for employing some extraneous force to force the oil alongthe pipe in addition to the pressure of the air which is mixed with theoil. My experiments show that it is apparently not possible to force oilalong' the p1pe by the mere pressure of the jets of.

com ressed air. These can be used only to per orm their function ofreducing the oil to a foamlike condition, and pumping apparatus muststill be employed to force the oil along the pipe.

I claim 1. An apparatus for transporting liquid comprising a conduit, achamber connected to said conduit, a nozzle in said chamber formed witha large number of minute holes,

means for supplying compressed air to said nozzle, and a pump forpumping the liquid along the conduit, substantially as described.

2. An apparatus for transporting liquid comprising a conduit, achamberconnected to said conduit, a nozzle in said chamber formed with a largenumber' ofminute holes' ope n ing in the direction 'of'the conduit,means for supplying compressed air to sald nozzle, and a pump forpumping the liquid along the conduit, substantially as described.

u 0? air from said holes in the nozzle, and a pump for pumping theliquid along the conduit, substantially as described.

4. An apparatus for transporting liquid comprising a conduit, a chamberconnected to said conduit, a nozzle 'in said chamber formed with a largenumber of minute holes, means for supplylng compressed air to 'saidnozzle, oblique vanes for'imparting a retary motion to the liquid, and apump for pumping the liquid along the conduit, substantially asdescribed; I

5. An apparatus for transporting liquid comprising a conduit, a' chamberconnected to said conduit, a steam jacket around said chamber, a nozzlein said chamber formed with a large number of minute holes, means forsupplying compressedair to said nozzle,

and a pump 'for pumping the liquid along the conduit, substantially asdescribed.

6. An apparatus for -transporting oil comprising a series of receptaclesfor the loil, a pipe leading from each receptacle to the next of theseries, an apparatus for- 'forcing' oil along each' pipe comprising apump, and means for reducing said 'oil to a foamlike condition byadmixture thereof 'with air, each of'said receptacles 'to which .saidoil is conducted'being provided with ;means for permanently separatingfrom the oil the air which has escaped from admix-' ture therewith,substantially'as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in thepresence of twosubscribing witnesses.

. EDWARD N. Mi Ls.

Witnesses FRANCIS M. WRIGHT,

- D. B. RICHARD-S.

into minute bubbles the several streams

